Ending to The Giver
by J. B. Hannah
Summary: Jonas returns to the community after years of living in Elsewhere, but not with the results he, or the Giver expects... PG for drama and thematic elements


The Giver walked into the hall. By that time, everyone was worried about where Jonas could have gotten to-he'd been missing since last night, and the newchild Gabriel, too. Everyone fell silent as the Giver approached the stage, whispered something to the Chief Elder, who nodded and stepped aside, and turned to the members of the community.  
  
"I have a very grave announcement," the Giver began solemnly. "Jonas, the Receiver who was selected a year ago, has been lost in the river, and the newchild Gabriel with him."  
  
A collective gasp rose from the community. Deep down, the Giver knew that Jonas was now safe Elsewhere, but he refrained from showing it on his face. He looked down at the hard, colorless stage.  
  
"Many of you may remember Jonas," the Giver continued, "whether from school, or his volunteer or recreation time. What we all have in common, though-" the Giver looked around "-is that we will all deeply miss him.  
  
"However," the Giver said, "Jonas's loss is not all bad. This has provided me with an opportunity that I have been longing to grasp since I began as a Receiver. That-" the Giver looked around the hall again "-is the opportunity to return this community to how it was before Sameness-the way things are now."  
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The same dream again…Fiona…the bathtub…the wanting….  
  
Then Asher…the war-game…the laughing….  
  
Then all went black again.  
  
Then came all the memories…of Christmas…of war…of peace…of hate…of love….  
  
Jonas blinked. Lights blared above him. He felt a sharp pain in his arm, but didn't look over. Faces were looming over him, blurred.  
  
They had color.  
  
Jonas blinked again. He realized where he was; the Giver had mentioned it many times, and this was certainly where Jonas wanted to be.  
  
This place was Elsewhere.  
  
Jonas's next thought was Gabriel. He had to know. Where is Gabriel? Is he okay?  
  
He muttered that thought without realizing it. One of the faces over him spoke. "The child you were found with is fine. He's right next to you."  
  
Jonas grinned, satisfied and relieved. Gabriel was alive.  
That was all he knew.  
  
He fainted again.  
-----------------  
Days passed, then weeks, and Jonas and Gabriel were moved to an orphanage. Gabe was now learning new words, such as "Yes," "No," "Water," and even "Jonas."  
  
Jonas was still recovering from the frostbite, dehydration, and malnutrition he had suffered on his journey Elsewhere, but he was still constantly revisited by dreams of Asher, Fiona, the Giver, and his old community. He was now beginning to feel the first pangs of sorrow and remorse at having left his best friends behind.  
  
Finally, nearly a whole year after being found in the snow outside of the town, Jonas decided. Soon, he assured himself, soon, I'll go back. I'll go home.  
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Well, thought the Giver, this is going quite well.  
  
He had been right about being able to help the people bear the memories of life before Sameness, but there was one major possibility that he had completely overlooked, and on reflection, he still didn't understand why he hadn't thought of it before. That was the fact that the people of the community would not enjoy bearing the memories.  
  
Sure, they realized that it was their duty-they must bear the memories, thanks to Jonas, but the Giver had given the community memories of hate and anger already. That, the Giver now realized, had been a major mistake-for now, the community was beginning to feel hate and anger towards Jonas.  
  
Never mind that, the Giver said to himself, my job is nearly done. Once Jonas returns, and completes the memories of the community, I will be released.  
-----------------  
Another month passed, and the community was becoming more and more restless. The Giver had given them all of the memories. All of his memories, at least, for Jonas still was the only one to hold color, and feelings, and Jonas was not in the community; he was still Elsewhere.  
  
Not even Asher and Fiona missed Jonas any longer. In fact, the entire population of the community now felt plain hatred for Jonas, because it was because of him that the community must bear the painful memories of the past.  
  
Jonas did not know that, and it was for that very reason that he began his journey back to the community that month.  
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It was March of the third year after Jonas's having been selected as Reciever when Jonas left the town that had cared for him for two whole years. Gabriel had been adopted by a nice young couple that had promised to wait for Jonas to return, which he had hoped to do eventually.  
  
So Jonas set out, though this time, it was not on foot, by bike, or by sled, but by car. The mayor of the town he had lived in for two years agreed to drive Jonas to within site of the bridge to the community. That night, Jonas would go meet the Giver, and live in his office while slowly being reintroduced to the community.  
  
Finally, the night that Jonas planned to return on came. That's when he realized that things would be much more difficult than he had planned.  
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Jonas's returning to the Giver's office was the only part of his plan that went smoothly. The Giver was pleased to see Jonas, though warned him that the rest of the community will not feel the same.  
  
The Giver was right. That morning, the announcer told the community to go straight to the auditorium for an unscheduled assembly. At the assembly, the Giver announced Jonas's return, but instead of showing joy, the community made gestures and noises of outrage and hatred.  
  
"I did warn you," said the Giver following the assembly. "But tomorrow, you must bear it. You're returning to school tomorrow."  
-----------------  
The next day, Jonas began school again. He had attended lessons at the orphanage at the town, so was still at the community's standard of education for students his age, but it was much different now than before he had left. Before, he was top of the class, and teachers called on him nearly every time he put his hand up to answer a question, but now the teachers ignored him completely. They didn't grade his assignments, so he began to fail his classes, and they ignored his hand when he put it up at a question, even if his was the only one up.  
  
It wasn't just the teachers, but the students were also ignoring Jonas. He asked Benjamin to pass him a pencil in class once, but got no response. It was starting to annoy Jonas greatly.  
  
"It's like I don't even exist," Jonas told the Giver that night. "I can barely stand it any more."  
  
"But you do exist, Jonas," the Giver told him, comfortingly, "and that is a fact you can rely on to help you be reaccepted."  
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The Giver was, once again, wrong, and by quite a bit. The next day, during recreation time, Jonas went up to Asher and tried to talk to him, but Asher went on talking, and soon moved to the other side of the play area.  
  
Jonas then went up to Fiona. "Fiona," he began, "I hope you can understand what I'm going through right-"  
  
SMACK. The sound reverberated around the play area, and everyone turned to see what had happened. Fiona's hand had come swinging from her side and hit Jonas square on the cheek. Fiona glared at him, pure hatred in her normally beautiful eyes, and then stomped off to join Asher.  
  
Well, Jonas thought, at least I'm not being completely ignored. Then, still stunned from the way Fiona was behaving to him now, Jonas left the play area and went to the river.  
-----------------  
Jonas stared down at his reflection in the crystal blue water. His cheek was still raw where Fiona had hit him. He touched it gingerly, and wondered. Could the memories the Giver gave them have been worse than the ones he gave me, he thought, or were they just less ready for them?  
  
The sky was becoming dark now. Nobody had come to find Jonas. Jonas had spent the afternoon sitting on the bridge, staring at Fiona's dwelling, which was near the bridge. He was still quite stunned at his former friends' behavior-Asher's ignoring him, and Fiona's act of pure hate towards him.  
  
He didn't return to the Giver's office that night. The Giver came to see if Jonas was okay, but Jonas told him that he would rather spend the night on the bridge that night. The Giver nodded, and left.  
  
Jonas could take it no longer. His two best friends had turned him down. He reached into his jacket and pulled out of it an automatic pistol that the mayor of the town had given him. "Use it only in extreme emergencies," the mayor had said. Jonas didn't care about that now. He only knew that he couldn't go on with life like this.  
  
With that thought, Jonas lifted the gun, and pointed the barrel at his head.  
  
And then, he pulled the trigger.  
-----------------  
The explosion reverberated around the community, along with a flood of the memories that Jonas held-of color, of feelings, of love.  
  
Fiona heard the bang and threw the door open, only to see Jonas tumble limply over the edge of the bridge and into the river.  
  
Then she felt it. Feelings-love, terror, sorrow. Then she saw it-the red of Jonas's blood, the blue splash of the water.  
  
"JONAS!" Fiona cried. She sprinted to the riverbank and dragged Jonas out of the water. "Jonas, please," she said, shaking him. "Please, please wake up…."  
  
"Daddy!" she yelled. Fiona's father sprinted out of the dwelling. "Daddy, go get a hospital medic. Fast!"  
  
Her father nodded, and sprinted off into the community.  
  
Then, with a jet of strength that she had not known before, she lifted Jonas into her arms and began to run after her father, towards the hospital. She tripped, and rolled to prevent hurting Jonas more. She picked him up again, and kept running.  
  
Before long, they were at the hospital. The medics quickly wheeled Jonas into the Urgent Care unit, leaving Fiona and her father standing outside the doors.  
  
Fiona's mother soon joined them, and the Giver, not long after that. Before long, the formerly colorless, feelingless community saw color, and felt the same feelings as Fiona-love, terror, sorrow, and followed their feelings to the hospital to join Fiona's family and the Giver.  
  
Asher fought his way up to Fiona's family. He made a gesture as to grab Fiona's hand, but somehow didn't complete the thought, and he remained silent, letting his hand drop back to his side.  
-----------------  
The red light next to the Urgent Care room turned to yellow, and one of the medics stuck her head out of the door. "Fiona?" she said. "You can come in. You too, Asher." The head then disappeared into the room again.  
  
Asher and Fiona looked at each other nervously, and then walked together through the door.  
-----------------  
Jonas, somehow, was looking at himself. He was lying in a hospital bed. Fiona then came up and woke him. Jonas then leaned up and kissed her.  
  
A blur of color, then more visions. The Giver was sitting across from him at a table.  
  
Another blur.  
  
Jonas now saw himself walking out of the hospital, meeting Fiona outside the doors, and embracing her tightly.  
  
Yet another blur. Jonas now saw himself standing in a nice outfit on the bridge, next to the Giver. The community was sitting in chairs that had been set up, leaving an aisle. Fiona then came walking up the aisle is a white gown with a veil, followed by a girl in a light blue gown who was throwing flower petals.  
  
His last vision was of him and Fiona playing with Gabe in a scene familiar to the memory of love he had received years before.  
  
Then all went black again.  
-----------------  
Jonas opened his eyes. He was lying in a bed in the hospital, Fiona and Asher next to him.  
  
"Oh, Jonas," said Fiona, tears welling up in her eyes and beginning to stream down her face, "I'm so glad you're alive…."  
  
"You okay, man?" said Asher nervously, looking as though he thought Jonas was slightly crazy.  
  
Jonas grinned slightly, glad that his friends accepted him-and that Asher had hardly changed, blond hair and all.  
  
Asher's face broke into a smile, and Fiona broke down completely. Jonas sat up.  
  
"Fiona…it's okay…I'll be fine…."  
  
Fiona looked up, tears still streaming down her face. She smiled now, and said, "I'm glad to have you back, Jonas, and I apologize for hitting you."  
  
Jonas nodded. Then-he didn't know why he did it-maybe because of the visions he had before he awoke-but at that point, he leaned over, and kissed Fiona, embracing her tightly. He began to cry, too. "It's okay, Fiona…I'm back…."  
-----------------  
And so Jonas's recovery began. Slow at first, for the impact of the bullet had caused him to forget many things, like how to use every muscle below his heart. Finally, after one year, Jonas could move completely of his own will, could feed himself, and was learning to read and write again.  
  
Jonas recovered very quickly. Finally, exactly three years after shooting himself, at age seventeen now, Jonas walked out of the hospital, fully recovered. Fiona met him at the entrance, and they embraced each other.  
  
Then, holding each other's hands, they went to find Jonas a dwelling.  
-----------------  
Two years passed, and Jonas and Fiona turned nineteen. Jonas found himself standing on the bridge, next to the Giver, as in his dream. But the dream didn't reveal the heavy feeling of love.  
  
And there she was-Fiona, in her white gown and veil, followed by the girl. Fiona walked up to the stage, and stood on the Giver's other side, facing Jonas.  
  
Five minutes later, the Giver held his bible back to his chest. "Well, Jonas, Fiona," he said, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." He nodded to Jonas. "You may now kiss the bride." His job now fully done, the Giver stepped back.  
  
Jonas lifted the veil over Fiona's face, and saw her beaming back up at him, red hair gleaming in the sunlight shining over them. Jonas then leaned over and kissed Fiona. Seconds later, they moved apart slightly, and turned to the crowd. Fiona tossed her bouquet of flowers out to a crowd of young girls, all of about fifteen. Jonas looked out to see who had caught it. A young girl emerged from the crowd, clutching the bouquet. Jonas had seen that face before, and recognized it at once as Lily, his old sister.  
  
Holding hands, Jonas and Fiona then went down to join the celebration. They were met by a gleaming golden-haired dog, which came trotting up to them and snuggled between Jonas and Fiona. Jonas then looked up and saw his parents beaming at him.  
  
"Nice to see you again, Jonas," said his father. "It's been quite a long time."  
Jonas's mother walked up and hugged her son, while his father congratulated the both of them, and said, as Jonas and his mother separated, that Jonas and Fiona could keep the dog as a wedding gift.  
  
Finally, the sun began to set, ending the first complete day in the community without sameness.  
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Lights twinkled, reflected by the many ornaments on the tree. Gabriel found all of his presents and began to unwrap them. Fiona and Jonas looked on happily. The golden-haired dog slept on a rug next to the tree. Gabriel took a bow and stuck it on the dog's head, and the three laughed. 


End file.
